Two siblings, OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Em (Keke Palmer), running a horse ranch in California discover something wonderful and sinister in the skies above, while the owner of an adjacent theme park tries to profit from the mysterious, otherworldly phenomenon.

Let it be known that Jordan Peele is a filmmaker with his finger on the pulse. Not only has he re-made comedy television with his revered work as part of cult comedy act Key & Peele, but he’s now taking over the horror genre and has found entirely new avenues to stretch the genre in. With his unique flair, Peele scared the hell out of audiences with his previous two films Get Out and Us, and now he’s ready to do the same with Nope. And this one’s his best yet. With a style all his own Peele spins a deeply suspenseful narrative in what is one of the year’s most original horror features, and this one will scare the hell out of you!

While I can’t dive into any particular deep plot elements of Nope, as this is a film that should be savoured in the showing and is best enjoyed going in totally blind, I will say that its success is down to Peele’s singular vision for the story. Stepping into the realm of other-worldly visitors, Peele brings a considerable threat to his film and his direction has you on a razor’s edge. Mixing horror, science fiction and comedy leads to something unique in Nope and the originality of its presentation strikes a chord with audiences who are seeking subject matter that is different and new. Peele is fine with being edgy, but more importantly, he’s ready to take risks and try new creative ideas and all of it benefits the experience of Nope.

Peele has also been adept at casting his movies and he again absolutely lucks out with Nope. Re-teaming with Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya is again a big win for Peele and Kaluuya brings a stoical, reserved quality to the role of Otis Haywood Jr. or OJ. Kaluuya jumps into the character and you completely buy into his stance as a horse trainer and cowboy. Playing off of Kaluuya’s OJ and being very much the foil is Emerald Haywood or Em (Keke Palmer), his jumpy, ditsy, flighty sister who has reluctantly returned to the family ranch and their Hollywood horse training business. Em is all about the quick buck and is a real juxtaposition to OJ and this leads to plenty of interesting drama that builds between the two characters.

Steven Yeun makes an about-face turn as mercurial showman Ricky “Jupe” Park, a former child star with a very shady past who has decided to profit in some very dark ways, and it’s a very different performance from Yeun than we’re used to seeing. Brandon Perea brings a considerably skittish performance to the big screen with his role as Angel Torres, a technology salesman who jumps into the action with the Haywood’s and his nervy performance adds considerable tension to the story. Finally, there’s the always dependable Michael Wincott who turns up as Hollywood cinematographer Antlers Holst and his appearance in Nope lends the film a moody gravitas.

As an exercise in sheer horror and suspense, Nope will have you on the edge the whole way through. Honing his craft with Get Out and Us, Peele is now a master of the horror genre and he knows how to keep his audiences paranoia geared up. And damn does it make for a very scary watch. Two key factors that add to the suspense of Nope include its use of cinematography and sound design. Best experienced in IMAX the sound design of Johnnie Burn brings a harrowing sense of fear that washes over the audience. Burn builds out a sense of tensuon thanks to his manipulation of sound, and paired with the scoring of composer Michael Abels, Nope is a film that holds you in a vice of fright. Noted cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema adds to the thrills of Nope and his camera work pulls you in deeper to the narrative, particularly during the third act.

Nope is a film that I can describe as being deeply cinematic and it promises the sheer big screen spectacle that audiences have been missing for some time. It’s a complete work from beginning to end, and is a testament to why new ideas matter to the art of cinema and that directors should exist as artists who are ready to push the boundaries of the art form. It strikes a perfect balance between horror and comedy, and when viewed as a sheared audience, it’s cinema just the way we like it. Everything about Nope comes together as a cinematic work and it also happens to be one hell of a rush.

Jordan Peele’s Nope is one of the year’s most fascinating releases. It’s a horror film that will give you one hell of a fright but will also pull you into its fascinating story of otherworldly contact, and intense fight for survival. For audiences looking for some big screen thrills, Nope is a guaranteed awesome watch.

Image: Universal Pictures

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After their career criminal husbands are gunned down in a bank robbery gone wrong, four grieving widows: Veronica (Viola Davis), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Belle (Cynthia Erivo), must pull together and finish the job to take care of a debt their husbands owe to a sinister crime lord, while also evading the attention of a shady politician (Colin Farrell).

Academy Award winning filmmaker Steve McQueen (Shame, 12 Years A Slave) is a director that commands your attention and with his new feature Widows he grabs it instantaneously. This lauded filmmaker really knows how to tell a story and watching Widows is seeing a master at work. McQueen understands how to propel a story forward and his filmmaking is tight and focused. He places his attention around the mounting pressure that Veronica, Linda, Alice and Belle face as their deadline to pay a debt to a dangerous gangster encroaches upon them and make no mistake the clock is ticking. What truly struck me about his storytelling is how his attention moves to the immense psychological pressure that builds inside of these four women and the different people that they have to become in order to pull off this criminal challenge.

Theme always plays a large part in McQueen’s work and here he is looking into ideas of status, position, circumstance, identity and power. This approach to the movie is presented through our four main female characters, along with the city of Chicago as well. Like other great crime films such as Michael Mann’s Heat, the city becomes a character within the film and McQueen’s lens captures a shocking unbalance between rich and poor. One of the best examples of this is a fixed camera shot that tracks Colin Farrell’s ambitious political figure Jack Mulligan from a slum to his palatial mansion, a journey that takes less than 3 minutes and five blocks and the resulting shot leaves you gobsmacked. This position of extreme poverty and extreme wealth almost standing next to each other, but being completely out of reach of one another is an analysis of contemporary America with laser like focus and it really hits you as an audience member.

Joining McQueen in bringing this intense story to life is award winning writer and author of Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn. Flynn is known for producing narratives that get under your skin and her work on Widows definitely falls under this. As a writer she has a knack for probing the dark corners we fear to tread and she takes us into some very shady places, both literally in terms of location and action, along with internally within our characters minds. We learn what makes them tick and thanks to her crackling writing and McQueen’s solid direction this narrative really sticks with you.

Leading the charge in Widows audacious heist is Viola Davis as Veronica Rawlings. Best described as being normal in every single way, the only thing daring she seems to have done is marry professional criminal Harry Rawlings (Liam Neeson), who despite trying to keep his wife away from his criminal life drags her into it with his failed heist. If there was a word I’d use to best describe Davis’s performance than it would definitely be believeablity. You completely buy into her choices and actions here as Veronica and you slowly see her transform into a darker person as she is forced to take on this job. Davis’ Veronica is not one to fold under pressure and you can’t take your eyes off of her as she metamorphosis’s into the person she has to be in order to survive.

Standing next to Davis is Michelle Rodriguez as Linda Perelli, a women who knows what her criminal husband Carlos (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) does and unfortunately pays the price for his own vices time and time again. Where Davis shuts herself off from any kind of emotion, Rodriguez is far more affected by hers and in my opinion is the most human of all the women involved in the heist. While the consequences are not lost on any of them as to what might happen if they fail, being a mother of two young children really brings it home for Linda and you feel her maternal instincts pushing her forward to get the job done with stakes this high.

Each of the women of Widows is different and Elizabeth Debicki as Alice Gunner is the one with the most to learn and the most to get out of the events of the film. Starting off as the abused wife of her criminal husband Florek (Jon Bernthal), Alice finds herself a victim very quickly. But although she is pulled into this job like the others she as a character has the most to gain. While each of the women of Widows is changed by the film’s events, Alice’s transformation hits you the most and as she falls deeper into the heist you see a fire emerge that completely grips the screen.

Finally Cynthia Erivo is the wildcard of the group as Belle, a babysitter and beautician who stumbles into the heist and who brings another frame of reference to the film. What I liked about Erivo’s character was that she was the most game of all of the women for the heist and it’s here that we see McQueen’s storytelling at play. Narratively Belle’s motivations bring an interesting edge to the story and she also gives Davis a run for her money up on screen.

Widows is most certainly not for the faint of heart and be warned that the thrills come heavy and hard here. McQueen grounds his world in realism and this is Chicago we’re talking about here and the danger of the city is never far away. From a ferocious high speed chase to the sadistic leanings of Daniel Kaluuya’s gangster enforcer Jatemme Manning and the pent-up tension of a ticking clock, Widows definitely delivers on the thrills. Its action set pieces rage with aggression and you’ll be bracing your seat as the narrative moves forward.

Widows is white-knuckle filmmaking at its best and it will give your mind a serious workout thanks to its strong narrative and complex themes that are tied to it. If you’re wanting a rush that will leave you breathless by the end you’ll be guaranteed to find it here.

Image: 20th Century Fox

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